Radio signal apparatus



APYiH 1929- J. A. WILLOUGHBY ET AL RADIO SIGNAL APPARATUS Filed Oct. C lI 1919 3 Sheets-Sheet l amen/$015 APYiE 1929. J. A. WI'LLOUGHBY ET AL EJ208971 RADIO SIGNAL APPARATUS Filed Oct. 31, 1919 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 April 9, 1929. J. A. WILLOUGHBY Er AL RADIO SIGNAL APPARATUS Filed Oct. 31, 1919 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Patented Apr, 9, 1929.

: JQHN A. WILLOUGHBY, OF FLORENCE, SOUTH CARGLINA, AND.PERCIVAL D. LOWELL,

' OF WASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIAQ RADIO SIGNAL APPARATUS.

Application filed October 31, 1919. Serial No. 334,720}.

(GRANTED UNDERTHE ACT or MARCH 3, 1883, AS AMENDED APRIL so, 1928; 370 o. e. 757.

The invention described herein may be manufactured and used by or for the Government for governmental. purposes without the payment to them of any royalty thereon.

Our invention relates to radio or w reless communication or signaling and its ob ect is to provide a newand useful form or arrange ment of antenna that may be used in combination with radio sending or receiving sets; or installationsfor the transmission or reception of radio signals.

A further and distinguishing object of our invention is the provision or arrangement of the antenna for use when submerged either wholly or partially in sea, saline or fresh water; and also antenna for use on submarine or submersible vessels or boats, or on boats operating only on the surface, and that require no housing or re-erection when the submersi- Jle vessel equipped therewith respectively submerges or rises for surface operation.

These and other objects descriptive of the nature and uses of the invention are set forth more fully and in detail in the following description and drawing.

In the drawing, which is of diagrammatic character Figure 1 illustrates a form of antenna with associated apparatus or installation for use when the antenna is submerged either in saline or fresh water. 1

Figures 2 to 6 inclusive illustrate submersible boats or ships embodying our invention with various differences in arangement,'circuits and other details that will later be explained.

Figures 7, 8 and 9 show various details of mounting or connection later fully explained, and, i w

Figure 10 is a diagram illustrating a circuit arrangement suitable for sending or transmitting in connection with such forms or structures as illustrated in. Figures 1 to 6 inclusive.

Our invention consists broadly in providing an antenna of covered or insulated wire or cable of bronze, copper orother suitable conductive material, thatis operative for sending and receiving signals when wholly or partly submerged in river, harbor, sea or other body of Water, whether saline or fresh, or in any fluid medium (other than air) whether non-conductive or partly or whollycond uc tive.

of antennas of the character vi'ous. Among these are that the antenna is I In Figure Ithe numeral l'represents the covered or insulated antenna, supported by a buoyant element S, the covering being of any suitable insulating material, such as gutta percha, rubber, or the like, that is water-proof. Theantenna shown is arranged in the form of a loop composed of two turns or coils of wire. The leads from the loopantenna are connected with an inductance 2 and a capacity 3 which may be in the form of a variable condenser. As shown, this antenna is connected in any suitable way with a local receiving or transmitting set. Figure 1 shows the antenna inductively coupled with areceiving set 7 comprising a transformer or coupling coil, detector, telephone receivers and acondenscr. As will be apparent, tun ng of the antenna circuit may be'accomplished by adjustments of the capacity 3 or the inductance 2 and tuning of the detector circuit with the antenna circuit may bemade by means of its variable capacity or its inductance, as is usual. With an antenna of, the form and construction described and illustrated good signals-have been received from long distances. While We have shown the loop antenna 1 of rectangular form and of two turns or coils, it is understood that the invention is not limited to this partic ular form and arrangement, but that other forms of loop and different numbers ofcoils or turns therein maybe employed to'secure the results desired. It is found that a loop antenna such as described has marked direction- I a]. properties. A transmitting set may be also connected or coupled with such an antenna as illustrated in Figure 10, wherein A represents the generating circuit including a generator 45, a telegraph key 46, this circuit being coupled through transformer coils to an oscillation circuit B containing inductance capacity and a spark gap. It will be understood that theoscillation circuit is connected or coupled to the antenna in any suitable way well understood in the art. The advantages described are obnot visible and the existence of a station is thus readily concealed and also that it is readily portable and shifted from placeto place as may he desired. Its directional properties may also be useful, for example, by eliminating undesired signals from a given direction. Our invention further consists inqprovid= ing radioor wireless equipment for boats and ships, particularly those of the submarine or submersible class. This is illustrated in Figures2 to (Sinclusive, with details of. mounting and connection shown in Figures 7, 8 and 9.

In Figure 2 the antenna consideredas a whole comprises the metallic hull oi. theboat 5 andv the covered or insulated wire (3 connected to said hull near the stem and stern thereot, the

wire 6 being carried upon struts or masts 7, 8 and 9; Aswill'be' seen, the wire or cable (5 is downwardly inclined from its central support 8, towards the stem and stern of the boat.

'Tl'iis form possesses the advantagethat it not only :forms part of the wireless equipinent of the boat, but that the inclined portions between the central support 8 and the connections to the hull at stem and stern also form obstruction-clearing members which deflect obstructions likely to be encountered by the boat in its submerged course or )a.th,

. such obstructions being nets, wires, mines, &c.

The wire portion 6 otthe antenna forms a permanent structure onv the boat and doesnot have tobe unshippeclor housed, and re-erected when the boat submerges or rises to the surface, ashas heretofore been the practice with other forms of wireless installations .on such craft. The wireG may be a phosphor-bronze wire orcable .or it may be, of other suitable conductive material and may be of suitable .strength or size to act as a deflector for obstructions. The covered wire or cable 6 is secured to the hull at the bow and stern of the vessel as indicated atlO and 11 re'spectively. Theends of the cable are electrically connected either to the associated apparatus a short conductor 12, the antenna passing itroin' lllllStGlHllIlill l2lover supports 9,78 and 7,

theme back at 6 to a suitable part of the deck to aLl'ead-in 13, and'through the deck to the remainder 01- the antennacircuit, which may consist of condenser, inductor transformer otc., shown diagrammatically at A. The antenna of this figure is insulated from the deck in any suitable manner except where connection is made by means of the conductor, 12, noted above, tl1e sections 1 1 and. 15 or the obstructioneclearing' element carrying a suitj able lnsulatlng means, The antenna circuit is grounded at 16 to theylessel and isshown including acondenser 17 and' co l 18. In this 'iorm of the invention, the loop forming the antenna includes the conductor 12, obstruction clearing device 6, the conductor 6, terminal 16 and the deck (Z, between terminal 16. and the conductor 12,] Associated witlrthe antenna circuit is shown a secondaryor closed or the boat forming part of; the

circuit 13 having a secondary coil 19, a variable condenser 20, a detector 21 and a telephone 22, all 01 which may be of any desired form or arrangement. r l

The disclosure in Figure 3 is somewhat similar to that shown in Figure 2, except that thescctienot the deck (Let the vessel is not a part of the loop-oscillating circuit, but in lieu of the conductor '12 and the deck (Z a conductor 23 extends from the stern of the essel 5, through a lead-in 2 1, to the other apparatus A to complete-the antenna circuit. A,

Figure 4: shows an arrangeine oi the loop antenna provided with a continuous bottom conductor 25,. The antenna in this figure shows the continuous conductor 25 extend-V ing upwardly from the bow support 7' to in downw a re 1y m nals of the inductance coil and condenser A; The oppos1 te end ot the conductor extends from stern support 9 totOrrnthe sec- 7 tion 25 which leadsto an insulator 26 carried by midship support 8 and thence downwardly through leadrili 2a to the terminals ot the illnuctance coil; and condenser A. In lll1.lS-ttl.

rangement of the loop antenna, the antenna" wire or cable is attached to the bow'and stern of the Vessel by means of insulators aska-t 1a andlh, and the intermediate port on of the antenna is spaced-apart and insulated from CPI sulator 2,6, at the midship support ththence l l-lllfOligll lQZlCl lll 13 to. theterthe midship support, and the ends of the an-' 'tenna lead intothe ,ycssel-to the electromagnetic signal ng instrun' ents- The ci llcuit in this ornr of loop antenna the reverse of that shown 1n Fig, 3111 that the leads to thecondenser 17 an d transformer coil are :t-rom the upper part of the loop.

, The embodiment of the inventionshown in Fig. 5 similar to that shown in Fig. 4, with the di'li'erencethat the upper limb or portion of the cable or wire 6 is electrically connected to the hull 5 of the boat bow and stern through connections 27 and 12, respectively,

tl'ius con, itutiug the hull of the boat part oi" the loop ircuit.

By f this arrangement the metallic hull '01" the vessel is provided with a combined insulated radio conductorand obstruction'cl'carin'g element which extends longitudinally orthe vessel andhis connected electrically at its ends with the hull whereby-a loop oscillating circuit is provided to cooperate with the electromagnetic signalinginstrument carried by the vessel. V y 7 1 V Figure 6 shows a similar arrangement of loop circuit to that shown in 5 the hull Y loop circuit. B iitfinlli (3 the receiyercircuit including detector 24-, telephone 30 and Variable condenser 2 8 is directly connected to the loop circuit instead ofbeing inductively coupled thereto as in Fig.5. I v l in Fig. 7 we have shown details of con struction for the inidship supports of the loop portion 6 on the mast8. The loop wire is indicated at 31 with its insulating covering 32. This wire is bent aroundeyelet 33 and passes thence to insulated bolt 35 by which it is secured to the hull. V Bolt 35 at its upper portion passes through an insulator 2' on which is carried a cup 34 surrounding the connection of'the loop wire 31 by tap 36 to the bolt 35. This cup is filled with a suitable Waterprooting material 37 such as marine glue. The lead interior of the hull is connected to the lower end of said bolt 35 as shown at 31, the inner end of said bolt being insulated from the hull by insulating washer or. plate 35. The connection to the mast support 8 is by means of insulator 26,'connected as shown at eyelet 33 and to'the mast.

The particular electrical connection illustrated at 12 or 27 is shown in Figure 8, wherein the combined antenna and obstruction clearing element 6 is bent around an eyelet 38 to form a mechanical connection with the strain insulator 39, and after passing through eyelet 38 the element then forms the conductor 12 or 27 where it terminates within a watertight socket 410, which is preferably metal and is secured at 41 directly to the deck (Z of the vessel to make a direct electrical connection therewith. This socket as disclosed in Figure 9'receives the element 6 in its entirety, but the insulated covering 32 may be cut ofl" to permit the bare conductor cable 31 to extend through an aperture in the end of the socket 4-0 to permit the cable 31' to be soldered or otherwise connected at 42 to the socket member 40.

In the structure illustrated in Figure 8 there is employed a turnbuckle 43 which connects the strain insulator39 with a deck eye 44:, to maintain thecombined antenna and obstruction clearing element taut above the hull.

The diagrammatic view of Figure 10 is of a conventional sending apparatus or cir-' cuit which can be employed in connection with the structures illustrated in Figures 1 to 7 of the drawing. This shows a generator circuit A having a source of power 45 and a key 1:6, associated with an oscillation circuit B, having a spark gap 47. a It is understood that this oscillation circuit is arranged in any usual or suitable way to transfer its energy to the loop antenna: shown in Figs. 1 to 6 inclusive. It is obvious that any other form of circuiting arrangement of electromagnetic signaling elements may be employed than those illustrated and described herein.

We claim- 1. The combination with a vessel, of a radio conductor extending longitudinally thereof but insulated therefrom and from the water except at its ends which make electrical connection with the vessel, an electrical connection between said ends of the radio conductor through said vessel, and electromagnetic signaling instruments associated with the said radio conductor at a point between its ends.

2. The combination with a sul'nnarine vessel having a metallic hull, of an insulated radio conductor extending longitudinally thereof and connected electrically at its ends with said hull, whereby a loop oscillating circuit is provided, and electromagnetic signaling instruments associated with said looped oscillating circuit.

3. The combination with a submarine vessel having a metallic hull, of an insulated rado conductor extending longitudinally thereof and connected electrically at its ends with said hull, whereby a loop oscillating circuit is provided, a tuning condenser in said oscillating circuit, and electromagnetic signaling instruments associated with said looped oscillating circuit.

4. The combination with a submarine vessel having a metallic hull, of .an insulated radio conductor extending longitudinally thereof and connected electrically at its ends with said hull, whereby a loop oscillating circuit provided, "electromagnetic signal instruments associated with said radio conductor between its ends, and a tuning con .denser in circuit with said conductor.

5. A wireless signaling device having elec tromagnetic wave instrumentalities, and a submersible waterproof antenna in the form of a loop mounted upon a submarine vessel and operatively connected with said instrumentalities, said loop being provided with a condenser.

6. In a wireless signaling device, a submersible loop antenna insulated substantially throughout its length and mounted upon a submarine vessel, said loop antenna having a radio signaling apparatus operatively connected to the antenna intermediate its ends, the antennaand its supporting vessel serving as a loop for the sending and receiving of radio signals. 7 I p 9. A radio signaling dev1ce,'comprismg a support formed as thehull of a vessel, a loop antenna carried thereby, said antenna being connected at its ends to the hull and its intermediate portion insulated therefrom, and radio signalingapparatns operatlvely connected with said antenna for the receivingllU tively connected with the antenna, said antenna being. insulated intermediate its ends and forming with its support aloop oscillating circuit.

12'. Radio signaling apparatus comprising in combination. a submersible vessel, a loop antenna of which the vessel. structure forms part of the loop circuit, areception or oscillation circuit carried by said vessel and means associated with. both' circuits for trans ferring-the oscillations from one circuit to the other, said means being connected to that part of the loop circuit that is exterior to the hull.

13. A submersiblevessel' provided with an obstruction clearing cable forming a loop oscillating circuit with the vessel and an electromagnetic wave apparatus operatively connected with said loop circuit. 7

14. A vessel having a metallic hull and provided with acombined radio insulated conductor and obstruction-clearing metallic element extending longitudinally of the vessel, and electrically connected with said hullto form a loop-oscillating circuit, and

electromagnetic signaling instruments associated with said looped oscillating circuit. 7 15. In a submarine vessel, a comblned obstruction-clearing and insulated antenna element extending above the deck of a vessel and having one end secured to a cupped terminal supportwhich is insulated from the vessel,

said end of the element'being sealed within the cup support, the-other endof the antenna element being-secured in a water-tight socket terminal, the insulation of the antenna extending within the socket and the metallic core of the combined obstruction-clearing device and antenna being inserted through the terminat socket and metallically secured thereto to thereby provide a loop-oscillating circuit including the vesselland antenna.

, 16. In aradio-signaling apparatus, an an tenna carried by a freely movable subn'iergible-vesselto forn'i a loop circuit there- 1 with whereby the antenna" may be utilized as a directional signaling element, and electro magnetic signaling instrumentalities associated with the loop,

17; The combinatien with. a submarine the. same v rt cal plane; and, turn vessel having aine-tallic hull provided witha support, of an insulatediradio conductor connected electrically at itsends to the metallic hull and having its intermediate lead-in portions mounted on and insulated trom' said support, the lead-in portions being spaced apart substantially parallel from the support to the electrormagnetic wave apparatus positioned within the hull ofthe boat to thereby increase the strength of the signals, and electro-magnetic' wave apparatus operatively connected to theinsulated radio conductor.

18. The combination with a submarine vessel having a metallic hull, of an insulated radio conductor serving as a loop antenna, which conductor is connected electrically at its ends to the metallichull and having its intermediate lead-in portions mounted in spaced relation on and insulated from a substantially centrally positionedsupport, the.

19-111 a radio signaling apparatus, asubj marine vessel having a metallic hull, apair of collector wires each having one end: electrically connected to the hull, said collector wires extending longitudinally ofthe hull to I provide two wavecollect'or areas, and tuning means between the associated ends of the collector wires.

20. In a radio signalingapparatus, a sub marine vessel having a'metallic hull, a pair of insulated collector wires each having one end electrically connectedto the hulhsaid collector wires extending longitudinally of. the hull to provide twov Wave collectors of substantially the same area, and tuning means ."within the hull of the, boat coupled to the associated ends lofthe collector wires.

21. In a radio signaling apparatus,a submarine vessel having a metallic'hull, a pair of insulated collector wires each having one end electrically connected to the hull. near the ends thereof,v said collector wires extending longitudinally of the hull to provide two wave collector areas in substantially the same plane andtuning means within the hull coupled'to the associatedends of the collector wires.

22.1111 a radio. signaling" apparatus, a submarine vessel having a metalliehull, a pair of insulated collector wires serving as radio conductors, eachhaving one end electrically connected to thehull of the vessel, sa d conductors extending longitudinally of the hull to :provide two wave collectors of substantially the same area and positionedin substantially coupled to and positioned between the associated ends of the collector Wires.

23. In a radio signaling apparatus, a sub' marine vessel having a metallic hull, a pair of insulated collector Wires servin as radio conductors, each having one end electrically connected to the metallic hull, a portion of each of said collector Wires extending paral- 

